The Beauty Of The Six Word Resume

An increasing number of companies are asking their potential new employees to tweet their resume to them – in 140 characters, usually featuring a custom hashtag.

Welcome to the world of short-attention span HR in the world’s modern workplaces.

If you can’t kill it in one tweet, you’re out. Some companies require you to have a certain number of Twitter followers too.

One hiring manager summed it up this way: “The Web is your CV and social networks are your references.”

To complain about this or to wish it wasn’t so is to ignore the basic (d)evolution of the way we talk to each other. This is real, it’s been this way for a while, and while it’s not this way for most companies it’s trending towards mainstream.

I like it.

We say too much. I say too much. Glarb glarb glarb, blah blah blah. We say so much these days yet doesn’t it seem we talk so little?

I believe a little more show and a little less tell is a way to prove we’re the right candidate.

And showing you understand and know how to deliver an impactful message across social media is a tremendous way to separate the “social media gurus” so many of us claim to be on Twitter from the people who truly understand that words matter!

You’ve no doubt heard of six word memoirs, these little bursts of brilliance and creativity about our lives and loves. Consider what six words you would use to describe you to a hiring manager.

Earlier this year Dawn Siff did, and became a rock star because of it. Click her picture to watch 6 second resume below.

The little light bulb in her head was creating a short, powerful video that accentuated her strengths and skills. I would have invited her for an interview immediately. Serious people can do this and not look like an idiot.

It’s a nice way to introduce oneself in an environment that proves we truly understand these new tools we use to talk to each other.

It’s not for every industry, and it’s not for everyone. But people like Siff are thinking about and experimenting with techniques that cut through the noise.

Less sometimes is vastly more.

John Scott is a media studies instructor and the career services manager at the School of Multimedia Communications, Academy of Art University San Francisco. John’s book “Destination: Reinvention” is on sale in the Amazon bookstore. The hardcover edition is at Lulu. Audiobook available on Audible and iTunes. Follow John on Twitter @ johnscottsf.